The Exhale

It begins long before the last breath

Long before the room goes still

It starts in that first moment

when a diagnosis enters the air

and something inside you

quietly tightens.

From there, the waiting starts

You hold your breath without meaning to

through each update

each slow change

each “let’s see what tomorrow brings”

You learn the landscape of decline

by instinct

listening for shifts no one else hears

showing up again and again

because love holds you in place.

Caring for someone who is dying

creates its own rhythm

a steady, quiet bracing

for whatever comes next

It reshapes your days

your nights

your lungs

You try to stay ready

even when ready isn’t possible.

And then their last breath comes

Soft

Final

Not dramatic, just true.

But the breath that breaks you

isn’t theirs

It’s yours

That long, trembling exhale

you didn’t know you were holding

A release wrapped in relief

in grief

in the sharp ache

of a chapter closing.

We think the final breath

belongs to the dying.

But the truth is

the real ending is ours

the exhale that follows

the one that carries

the weight, the love, the loss

and the letting go.

That exhale…

our exhale

that’s the moment

it all becomes real.

xo

Gabby